


Dark Sides Don't Do Holidays

by MagicQuill42



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Light Angst, Loneliness, Pre-accepting anxiety, Roman being dramatic, momentary panic, mysterious gift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 07:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16908495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicQuill42/pseuds/MagicQuill42
Summary: Holidays were never celebrated on the dark side of the mindscape. Least of all Christmas. Which means Virgil is in for a bit of a culture shock when he pops up in the light side’s mindscape just in time to see the tree.





	Dark Sides Don't Do Holidays

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to write a Halloween version of “What’s This” but it Did Not Happen and instead this did so …yeah. Might make a part two but idk.  
> Also check out the accompanying fic by @mariniacipher, But Light Sides Do.

The dark sides didn’t do Christmas. Virgil asked once and the others just sneered.

He knew what it was supposed to look like, of course! The trees, the presents, the watching of the same thirty Christmas movies over and over. He’d seen it all through Thomas for years.

But in all his time living in the repressed side of the mindscape, he and the other dark sides had never really celebrated it on their own.

He knew the light sides did though. He’d heard rumors of it anyway. Smelt the baking cookies and other delicious things from his room.

It was honestly just coincidence that he first chose to show himself to Thomas near the holiday. He’d forgotten about it until he saw the tree in Superwoman’s house. That made him feel a little guilty that he’d made Princey get pulled away from the celebration.

He was even more surprised to find out his room had been moved from the dark side of Thomas’ mind to the forefront. Meaning that instead of the barely-lit living room he was used to coming home to, he rose up in a room flooded with multi-colored light coming from every direction.

He stumbled in shock, blinking a few times. His jaw dropped as soon as his eyes adjusted.

His brain only had the coherency for two thoughts. One: This was decidedly not the dark side of Thomas’ mind. Two: It was most decidedly Christmas here.

There were lights in different colors strung up on every wall, and in place of Thomas’ letter paintings were three cheery stockings, two blue, one red, with names written on them in glitter glue. The air hung heavy with the smell of pine needles, hot chocolate, and gingerbread, and if he listened long enough, Virgil could just make out the sound of Morality in the kitchen, humming along to Christmas music.

But the real centerpiece was the tree.

The TV and lamp where Princey usually stood had been moved to make room for it. It was huge, almost bigger than the room itself in height, and wider than if Virgil, Morality, Logic, and Princey all stood together in a circle. Every branch was laden with ornaments and even more lights. And underneath was a pile of boxes that put Selfishness’ room to shame, each one brightly wrapped and topped with a bow.

Something in Virgil’s chest shuddered. So this… this was what Christmas looked like. It felt warm, and cheerful. As if the entire room was composed of emotions he’d never felt before.

“Creativity?” Morality called out from the kitchen. “That you, kiddo?”

Virgil jolted, his exact location coming into sharp focus. Morality poked a head out of the kitchen and blinked at him with wide eyes.

“You’re not Princey.” He said, surprised.

Virgil let a cruel smile twist over his lips, masking how terrified he really felt.

“Nope.” He said simply before dashing up the stairs and running to where he hoped his room was.

Luckily, it was exactly where it would have been in the opposing mindscape. It took everything Virgil had not to slam the door in his utter panic, but he managed. Somehow.

His room was untouched by the festive mayhem, something he wasn’t sure he was grateful for. Either way, he was more than happy to collapse onto his bedspread and scroll through tumblr for a few hours.

Which had the unfortunate side effect of giving him the kind of absolutely horrible idea of doing the same thing for them that he’d been doing for the dark sides the past few years.

As soon as the other sides were asleep Virgil crept down the stairs and put three more boxes under the tree. There weren’t any for him now, and he wasn’t under the illusion that this would change anything between him and the others, but it felt nice to contribute even a little something to the holiday.

Plus, it let him explore a little bit more.

He snuck into the kitchen and snagged a few leftover cookies before curling up on the couch to enjoy the string lights in the midnight darkness. It was all quiet and still in the mindscape. It didn’t have the laughter or carol singing he’d heard earlier, but it also didn’t have the cruel giggles he was used to, so that was a plus.

He liked the quiet. Given his choice he would rather have this cool quiet than the loudness he was used to.

He didn’t even notice he’d fallen asleep until Princey’s shrieking woke him up.

“What is he doing here!”

Virgil jolted awake so hard he almost fell off the couch. He looked up to see Princey’s near-disgusted face, Morality’s wince, and Logic’s rolling eyes.

“He showed up here yesterday while you were with Thomas,” Morality explained. “I didn’t think he was staying long though…”

Virgil sat up, popping his neck as he went to work out the kinks.

“My room moved,” Virgil said. “I sunk out from talking with Thomas and showed up here. So I guess it’s where I live now.”

“Absolutely not!” Princey exclaimed. “You can’t live here, you’re all… dark!”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Well it’s not my first pick either, Charming. But it looks like we don’t have much of a choice. My room’s here, so I’m here.”

Princey sneered. “Worst Christmas present ever.”

Virgil shrugged and headed back up the stairs. “Not my problem, Princey. Happy Holidays.”

He walked back to his room with a smirk he didn’t really feel and went back to his bed. It wasn’t like he wanted to celebrate Christmas with them anyway. He never had before and it wouldn’t do much to hope for it in the future.

He was content to play mysterious Santa Claus, even if his gifts were dumped in the trash Christmas morning. They were always fished out again the day after, so it was no big deal, really. As long as they were good enough gifts it was worth the effort. In the end. He didn’t need anything in return, least of all a Christmas gift of his own.

He was fine lingering at the edges and teasing the others with his mere presence. He could absorb the warmth curling off the other’s happiness. He could steal cookies and midnight naps. And that was fine. He didn’t expect much more.

It was enough that when he came to lurk Christmas Day he saw them actually enjoying his gifts, rather than throwing them away. Morality was cuddling with the stuffed cat, Logic was enjoying the mystery novel, and even Princey was doodling in the red notebook he’d given him.

Virgil smothered his glee and threw on a glare. “Where’d you get that?”

Roman rolled his eyes, as if Virgil’s existence was a crime.

“It was a gift, Zachary Jinx.” He said snippily.

“You ought to return it,” Virgil jabbed back with a sneer. “Looks ugly.”

Was he fishing for compliments? Yes. Was he aware of how pathetic and gross that was? Also yes. Fortunately, Princey had always risen to bait easily, so Virgil would have to wait until later to wallow in self hatred.

He let out the most offended gasp Virgil had ever heard and looked at him in pure indignation.

“I will have you know that this is one of the best notebooks I have ever received or owned!” He said. “Look at this binding! The tiny crowns? How can you look at this without thinking it’s anything less than a work of art?”

“Creativity, it is just a notebook.” Logic said, nose still stuck in his novel. “You are exaggerating it’s worth because we don’t know where it came from.”

“Oh sure, like you didn’t immediately bury yourself in that book once you opened it.” Princey snapped back.

“Irrelevant.” Logic said.

Morality giggled. “Come on, Logic. You have to admit the mystery of these Christmas gifts makes them a little more special!”

Logic rolled his eyes, but Virgil caught the hint of a smile as he turned back to his book. Something warm pooled in Virgil’s stomach and he fought back a smile of his own.

“So what did you get for Christmas then, if mine is so terrible?” Princey asked, snapping Virgil back to reality.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Dark sides don’t really do holidays. I didn’t get anything.”

Morality’s face fell. “You didn’t get anything?”

Virgil shook his head. “Not a thing. Never have. I don’t really care though. Like I said, the dark sides don’t do holidays.”

“You… you’ve never gotten a present?” Asked Princey, suddenly looking as if Virgil had said Disney was bankrupt. “Not even once.

Virgil rolled his eyes, not seeing what the big deal was. Even Logic had put his book aside to stare at him in shock.

“No. And?” Virgil asked cynically.

“Not even for your birthday?” Morality asked.

“That counts as a holiday,” Virgil said. “And-”

“Dark sides don’t do holidays, yes we get the general idea.” Logic said.

Virgil shrugged. “Good to know. Well, as fun as it was chatting with you all, I think I’m gonna head back to bed. Let me know if Thomas starts facing some imminent danger or whatever.”

The rest of the day passed normally, with Virgil basically spending it all in bed on his phone. His gift to Thomas was backing off for this one day in the year. He was soft, sue him.

The next morning was almost the same. Except for the quilt draped over his bed.

Part of him bristled at the thought of someone coming in while he was sleeping. Another part of him was mad at the idea of another anonymous gift giver encroaching on his thing. Probably to steal credit later.

But the part of him that won was the little, monkey-brain portion that screamed that the quilt was warm and his room was cold. He ended up curled underneath it for an extra hour more than he meant to.

When he finally did come down stairs he was a little sad to see the decorations already put away. Christmas, however celebrated, was over.

“Ah, Anxiety.” Logic said, setting his coffee down. “Did you sleep well?”

Virgil bristled a bit, but shrugged. “It was fine. Same as always.”

Logic hummed noncommittally and resumed sipping from his mug. “Well, I suppose little can be done for that. Merry Christmas, I suppose. I believe I forgot to say it to you yesterday.”

Virgil snorted. Logic could be so weird.

“Yeah, sure. Merry Christmas to you, too, Einstein.”


End file.
